Below This Is A Level Stratum Of Rock, Riven
Occasionally By Frightful Chasms.
The whole plain rises as it
approaches the river, and terminates with high and broken cliffs,
difficult to pass, and in many places so precipitous that it is
impossible, for days together, to get down to the water's edge,
to give drink to the horses.
This obliges the traveller
occasionally to abandon the vicinity of the river, and make a
wide sweep into the interior.
It was now far in the month of July, and the party suffered
extremely from sultry weather and dusty travelling. The flies and
gnats, too, were extremely troublesome to the horses; especially
when keeping along the edge of the river where it runs between
low sand-banks. Whenever the travellers encamped in the
afternoon, the horses retired to the gravelly shores and remained
there, without attempting to feed until the cool of the evening.
As to the travellers, they plunged into the clear and cool
current, to wash away the dust of the road and refresh themselves
after the heat of the day. The nights were always cool and
pleasant.
At one place where they encamped for some time, the river was
nearly five hundred yards wide, and studded with grassy islands,
adorned with groves of willow and cotton-wood. Here the Indians
were assembled in great numbers, and had barricaded the channels
between the islands, to enable them to spear the salmon with
greater facility. They were a timid race, and seemed unaccustomed
to the sight of white men.
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